Michael McKenry almost clips Tim Welke

Blair Johnson

Yahoo! Sports Minute BlogMay 2, 2013

Michael McKenry almost clips Tim Welke

Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Michael McKenry made his major league debut in 2010 for the Colorado Rockies. Now a member of the Bucs organization, McKenry is still building equity in the bigs with umpires. But a move the young backstop pulled Wednesday won't earn him any goodwill from the men in blue.

During his at-bat in the fifth inning of an eventual 6-4 Pittsburgh win over Milwaukee, McKenry took a borderline 3-2 pitch that was called a ball by home plate umpire Tim Welke. As he stepped out of the batter's box and made his way to first, the guy nicknamed "The Fort" (in honor of his defensive skills and his names's similarity to historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore) flipped his bat. The twirling piece of lumber almost clipped Welke. McKenry immediately realized what he had done and motioned back in the direction of Welke, apologizing. The moment had to have been a little scary for the veteran ump. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident.

Meanwhile James Harden, who was battling flu-like symptoms, made his first seven attempts from beyond the arc in Game 5 of the Western Conference playoffs series between Houston and Oklahoma City. The former OKC guard finished with 31 points to lead the Rockets to a 107-100 victory.

And Pascal Dupuis had a pair of goals and Marc-Andre Fleury had 26 saves as the Penguins shut out the Islanders 5-0 to open the Stanley Cup playoffs.